U.S. hopes presidents of Azerbaijan and Armenia meet soon
By Sara Rajabova
The United States is hopeful for a meeting between the Azerbaijani and Armenian presidents in the near future, U.S. ambassador to Azerbaijan said.
The meeting can be both formal and informal, Richard Morningstar told journalists on April 23.
Morningstar made the remarks on the eve of the Caspian International Energy Forum which is underway in Baku on April 23.
As a co-chairing country of the OSCE Minsk Group, the U.S. is active in the ongoing negotiations, he said.
"I believe that the regular meetings of the Azerbaijani and Armenian presidents are very important for discussing concrete actions to resolve the conflict," Morningstar added.
Presidents Ilham Aliyev and Serzh Sargsian last time met in Vienna on November 19 to discuss the peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
The OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs and Azerbaijani and Armenian foreign ministers discussed the possible meeting of the presidents of the two countries in the near future during their recent encounter.
The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict emerged in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Since a lengthy war in the early 1990s that displaced over one million Azerbaijanis, the Armenian armed forces have occupied over 20 percent of Azerbaijan's internationally recognized territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent regions.
As a result of Armenia's military aggression, over 20,000 Azerbaijanis were killed, 4,866 are reported missing, almost 100,000 were injured, and 50,000 were disabled.
Long-standing efforts by U.S, Russian and French mediators have been largely fruitless so far.
The UN Security Council has passed four resolutions on Armenia's withdrawal from the Azerbaijani territory, but they have not been enforced to this day.